The Edo Shogunate maintained a large territory in Hyuga (current day Miyazaki) during the Edo period in order to suppress a strong feudal clan of the southern coast of Kyushu. This was also a period when exchange with regions such as Osaka was actively conducted by way of sea routes across the Inland Sea.

Jutaro Komura

Jutaro Komura was one of the representative foreign ministers of the Meiji Era who played a role in the modernization of Japan. Upon the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese war, Komura negotiated and concluded the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905 and realized peace between Japan and Russia. He also successfully negotiated a revision to international treaties for complete restoration of tariff autonomy. Komura hails from what is now Nichinan City of Miyazaki Prefecture. In 1875, he became the first student to receive a scholarship from the Ministry of Education to study abroad, and he studied at Harvard University. He then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and began his career as a diplomat.